The towel flew towards the sink as Kate walked out of her bathroom wearing an N7 issue casual shirt and grey sweat slacks, hitting the switch to turn off the hot tub on her way out. She sauntered over to the nightstand next to her side of the double bed she shared with Kaidan and grabbed the hair brush that sat on top. With practiced hands, she gave her blood red locks a quick tidy-up, making her hair look presentable. After a quick adjustment with a bare hand, she dropped the brush back on the nightstand and stepped out into her lavish Citadel apartment. A gift from her old mentor when they were on shore leave before the final push against Cerberus.

That was 5 months ago, before the war with the Reapers came to an end, thanks to the combined efforts of Commander Katherine Shepard and her team and with the aid of the Crucible. She still couldn't remember what exactly happened leading up to the device's activation. She could only recall up to the point she found the Catalyst. Everything afterwards was a blur. The next available memory was her walking up in the Normandy med-bay, one month later. When she inquired about the war, she got similar answers and expressions. No one truly knows. From what the Commander gathered, the Crucible began to activate, and all ships began to retreat to the rendezvous coordinates, where they waited before a white energy field cascaded through the whole fleet, as well as the entire galaxy. The energy had apparently rendered everyone unconscious. Even the Geth were temporarily deactivated, despite their advanced cyber defenses and technology.

Despite this, little else was affected. When everyone came to, the ships, weapons, and equipment were unharmed and as they were before the rendezvous. Once everyone was accounted for they made their way back to Earth. It was here they found the first oddity. The mass relay they used was deactivated, and later, they discovered that the entirety of the network was dormant and inactive. This confused the Commander as much as it did everyone else at the time. After a few hours of fettling, the network was reactivated and unlocked, and the fleet returned to the Sol system and Earth. That's when they found the second oddity. There were no Reapers in sight. There was only what was destroyed during the initial attack, but the Reapers that were still alive when they retreated through the relay were gone without a trace.

Later, while combing through the Citadel, a search party had found her and Anderson's body in the council chambers. She was rushed to a doctor where she was immediately received surgery. Dr. Chakwas had informed her upon her awakening that she had suffered multiple first-degree burns, broken bones, blood loss, and a whole laundry list of other grievous wounds. The medical team that attended to her had said that her survival was nothing short of a God-given miracle. Once she was stable, she was relocated to the Normandy where she spent the rest of that time in a medically induced coma, to allow her body to fully rest and heal.

Three months later, there had been no signs of the Reapers or their return. No one knows what happened to them but, then again, no one is complaining. They're gone, and the war is over. Now, the galaxy is slowly rebuilding, and everyone is relieved. None more so than the crew of the SSV Normandy SR2. There are celebrations planned everywhere and across the board in honor of the ship and crew that had been at the forefront of this war since Saren and Sovereign. These don't include the ones dedicated to Commander Shepard herself, which are larger and much more numerous.

Much to the crew's relief, however, there had been a recent lull in the celebration front. This means that they could relax, enjoy themselves in peace and quiet, and do something completely left-field for any soldier: be lazy. Lord knows they earned it.

As Shepard stepped into the main room, she could hear talking coming from the living area downstairs. Probably someone from the crew stopped by to relax. Shepard had opened her apartment to her crew as a hang-out spot. The place had a lot of space that her and Kaidan simply couldn't fill, as well as spare bedrooms, should anyone need it. As she made her way down the stairs, Shepard deduced from the voices that Kaidan was having a chat with everyone's favorite Turian sniper and weapon-calibration expert, Garrus Vakarian. The first human spectre smiled at seeing the Turian lounging on one of the couches with a drink in his talons.

Garrus paused mid-sentence when he noticed Kate's arrival. His mandibles flared in a Turian smile and he raised his mug to her in greetings. Kaidan turned around in the chair opposite the couch the sniper sat on, himself smiling at his lover's approach.

"Shepard! Good morning! Glad you can finally join us. Any longer in that hot tub and you would have looked like one of those raisins you humans are so fond of." He greeted jokingly, getting a chuckle out of the couple.

"Laugh it up, Garrus. Don't forget that this is my apartment, and I can lounge in my Jacuzzi for as long as I damn well please." They all shared a laugh. "So, what're you boys up to?" She asks, crossing her arms.

"I'm just waiting for Vega. We're gonna head down to the arena to watch a few matches. Apparently, the Blasto Corps. are gunning for Elcor Elite's time record on the Armax Classic layout." The Turian explained, garnering a knowing smile from the first human spectre.

"Not gonna happen. They still need better team communication before they can aim for the Elcors' record. Where is Vega anyway?" She asked, and this time, Kaidan answered.

"Already called him. He's on his way but stopped to grab snacks for the match. Meanwhile, Garrus was telling me about his first tank." He said while leaning on his knees. Katherine smiled in intrigue at the information.

"First tank?"

Garrus' mandibles flared wider.

"Yeah, Well, it's more of an APC, like the Mako, but, Nonetheless, it was my first time driving. It was during my time in the military. There was a need for bodies to pilot some of the vehicles of the motorcade, and my name was apparently chosen at random to receive advanced training to drive them. So, I do the training, and was soon behind the controls." Garrus explained.

"And knowing you, you were probably as giddy as that Conrad guy was when he met Shepard for the first time." Kaidan joked, garnering a chuckle from Kate, and a look of excitement from Garrus.

"Spirits! How could I not be? A big slab of machinery, armed to the mandibles, and then some! It's not as big or cumbersome as the full-sized monsters, and nimble on it's wheels. It also handled better than the Mako, so, yeah. I definitely had fun back then." The sniper finished as he leaned back against the couch and took a sip of his drink. Shepard was convinced there's more, though.

"That's it? No daring feats, or massive screw-ups to share with your best friends?" She goaded, but the Turian wasn't having it as he lifted a brow plate.

"Daring feats? No. We did as ordered and stayed in rank. Massive screw ups, though? Oh, you're not getting that information without a fight. Or a lot of booze." He returned smugly, knowing well that Shepard is going to have to work for it.

"Oh, Come on." Shepard pouted. "Not even a little hint?"

"Nope." The Turian was steadfast in his decision. Kaidan chuckled at their antics, knowing full well that the two of them can be absolutely stubborn children at times.

"Let it go, Kate. He ain't talking anytime soon." The sentinel placated. Shepard just grunted in mild ire.

"This isn't over, Vakarian. I will make you tell me." The commander vowed. Garrus chuckled again at her resilience, before changing topics. He looked to Kaidan before speaking.

"What about you, Alenko? Any firsts, you'd like to share?"

Kaidan raised an eyebrow.

"What? Like, first kiss, nasty moments, raunchy details about an Ex, that sort of thing?" He asked.

"Exactly. The good stuff!" Garrus answered smugly. Kaidan smiled defiantly.

"Not a chance, buddy. Only Kate can get that information out of me." Shepard smiled victoriously at her lover's claim. "All you're gonna get is the story of my first car and how I totaled it." He finished, leaning back in the chair.

"Wait, you totaled your first car? How'd you do that?" Katherine asked as she sat down on the arm of Kaidan's chair, bracing herself with an arm around the seat back. She was curious to hear the tale of the car's demise.

"Welp, this was around the time I was 18. It'd been a year since BAaT was shut down. My dad and I went down to a used car dealer to buy myself a car. During the time between Brain Camp and then, I had been doing part-time work, and also learned how to drive. Had to keep myself busy, you know? It wasn't easy being stuck at home, not knowing what you're gonna be doing in life. Anyway, so we reach the place, and start looking around. There was a wide variety to choose from. Heh, now that I think about it there was this one car that looked just like Garrus. Blue paint, angular design, not that pretty to look at, and scars across one of the fender." This elicited a laugh from the other two. "I ended up settling on this silver sedan. It was clean, practical, and well taken care of. My dad wondered why I didn't go for a speedster. He even said that he'd have covered the difference for me if I didn't have the money."

"Why didn't you?" asked Kate.

"I don't know. It wasn't really my thing. Anyway, so there I was with my new sedan. I drove it around for a while, and it served me well, until the day I made it through boot camp and got accepted into the Alliance. Me and some friends went out to celebrate. This is how sensibility made me wreck my car. We went to a bar and had too much to drink. I can't remember what exactly happened after. I just woke up the next morning, hungover, and my car was outside, completely wrecked. My dad asked me about what happened, and I told him that I don't remember. So, I called up one of the boys and he said that he had apparently recorded the whole thing. So, he sends me the vid, and I hit play. Apparently, we ended up stumbling out of the bar, drunk out of our minds and laughing our asses off. We were calling it a night when this happened. In my drunken haze, I had apparently had a moment of clarity. So, I say out loud "I really shouldn't be driving like this." But then I had an epiphany and said "Wait a minute. I shouldn't listen to myself. I'm drunk!". You can guess what happened next." Kaidan finished.

Shepard and Garrus laughed again at hearing the reason behind the destruction of Kaidan's silver sedan.

"Ah, that has got to suck. Your dad must've been pissed." Kate pointed out. Kaidan chuckled.

"He had this look on his face, this 'are you for real?' look and said: "This is the first time, I've ever seen anyone crash a car sensibly. How?". I just shrugged, looking sheepish, and said: "I don't know."." They all laughed again just as Kaidan finished.

"That's something I'd expect from Vega. Not you." Garrus said, mid-laugh.

"Yeah, well…what can you do?" Kaidan replied with a shrug and a smile.

"And you were wondering why I never let you drive the Mako." Shepard teased, nudging Kaidan with a hand.

"Shepard, you never let ANYONE drive the Mako. You got to drive the ever-living crap out of it, while I got stuck with maintaining the damn thing!" Garrus pointed out.

"Hey! In my defense, I never caused any major damage, always kept her on her wheels, and I split the repairs with you. So, don't go making me out to be a slave driver." Katherine defended with raised hands.

"Alright, alright, that's enough you two. Also, Garrus, let's be fair. Kate proved herself adept behind the wheel. Seriously, she made the Mako do things I never seen anyone pull off." Kaidan cleared. Kate showed him an appreciative smile in return. Meanwhile, Garrus simply shrugged.

"Fair enough. She did practically make it dance. Come to think of it, I don't think anyone could manage half of the crazy stunts you pulled…except for Joker, if he didn't have that condition of his." Garrus pointed out. "Your first car must've been influential."

"Yeah, Kate, what was your first car? Did you even have one?" Kaidan enquired, curiously looking up at his girlfriend.

"Of course, I had one. How'd you think I got so good at driving the Mako?" Shepard replied in mock offense.

"Care to share?" Garrus asked, himself, leaning forward and putting his drink down on the coffee table.

"That's…a bit of a story." The N7 said as she considered her Turian friend's request.

"Well, you got until Vega gets here." Garrus replied with a shrug.

"Alright, then." Shepard stood up from her position on Kiadan's chair and moved to join Garrus on the couch. Once she was comfortable, she spoke up, again. "Okay, so. First things first, my car's something special. It's nothing like anything you'd normally see anywhere."

"Why's that?" Kaidan asked.

"Because it's an old-school, 21st Century Petrol Burner. It's at least 175 years old." Shepard explained. This information was received by slack jaws and shocked expressions.


A.N.: Cheers! At it again, people!

So here's the deal. I wanted to upload a new chapter to Is It Worth It, however I got hit with a baaaad case of writer's block. I am genuinely stuck. So while I figure that out, I'll be working on this piece here, which was slated to be a one-shot, but grew into something bigger. It's been floating in my head for a while, so I decided to put it down on here. It's something I've always been interested in writing.

To recap: 'Is It Worth It' is still going but will take a while, so this story is going to be keeping you guys happy until I clear this damn writer's block.

Questions to my PM.

Fav & Follow.

Banana.